(Corrects to remove extra “on Friday” in first paragraph. Makes clear that shares were sold on Thursday and Friday.)

Feb 1 (Reuters) - Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC sold 11 million of its Yahoo shares on Thursday and Friday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Third Point said in a statement on Friday that it sold the shares because it wanted to maintain a roughly consistent percentage holding of Yahoo’s outstanding shares as the company pursues its $5 billion buy back authorization.

Yahoo bought back about 80 million shares worth $1.5 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, under a $5 billion plan it authorized last May.

Third Point owned about 73 million Yahoo shares as of Nov. 14, according to a regulatory filing.

The fund, which last year settled a bitter proxy battle with Yahoo after months of criticism of the company, said it owns about 62 million shares in Yahoo after Friday’s sale.